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Bibiliography
Scott Haney 1 Trushell, John M. “American Dreams of Mutants: The X-Men-”Pulp” Fiction, Science Fiction, and Superheroes.” Journal of Popular Culture 1 Aug. 2004: 149-168. Print. This article is a good summary of the growth of comics as a medium, the X-Men in particular. I believe it is useful as a “crash course” into the history and the literary value of comics for anyone that is too unfamiliar with the medium to take it seriously. It begins by explaining the comic book superhero’s invention as a natural extension from pulp magazine heroes, and it follows through with a brief explanation of comics up until the 1960s. It does a good job of relating major historical events and social trends to their effects in comic books. It makes special note of the impact the atomic bomb had on the comic book universe and science fiction in general. It points out the way superheroes flourished as champions of American values during World War II. It links sidekicks to the comic companies’ desire to appeal to younger audiences. It moves on to McCarthyism and how the wave of censorship it brought affected the literary quality of comic books. After reaching the 1960s, it hones in on the development of the X-Men specifically. The parallel between fictional mutant/human relations and real life black/white relations is made. It describes the transition of the X-Men as commentary on race relations to a more 1970s oriented comic about self focus, and from there to it’s modern status as a multifaceted literary work that spans multiple comic titles with multiple focuses. It has an excellent bibliography. It cites the first comic appearance of every character it mentions and all the issues of the story arcs that it discusses in addition to any source that is quoted. Dorrell, Larry D. et al. “Book Worms Without Books? Students Reading Comic Books in the School House.” Journal of Popular Culture 1 Sept. 1995: 223-234. Print. This article is a comprehensive timeline of the usage and acceptance of comic books as a teaching tool in the public school system. It’s a bit old, but I think it’s an incredibly useful tool in drawing parallels between comic books and other more modern media that features superheroes. It’s also noteworthy in that it goes back farther than most sources in defining the history of comics. It mentions comic precursors during the Middle Ages, and it moves on to the widespread presence of comic strips created by William Randolph Hearst. It covers the fear of such newspaper comic strips impacting both adults and children negatively. The introduction of the superhero as an important facet of comics is noted. The article then moves on to its major focus, the comic book and its relationship with students and teachers. It uses statistics to define just how widespread comic books were with children shortly after their introduction. It picks up at the 1940s with the first cases of schools instituting plans to combat the “menace” of comic books. It is at this point that the unique value of the article develops. It cites multiple examples of the negative response comic books garnered from authority figures in their early days. These specific examples make it very easy to make a point for point comparison between the first impressions that comic books made on teaching and the impressions that more recent superhero media such as movies and video games are making on teaching. It goes on from the primarily negative responses of comics’ early days to the usage of Superman grammar workbooks in schools and other such proactive efforts. Again, it’s content makes it easy to create parallels between this positive usage of comics and more modern media. Haney 2 Hahn, Joel. “A Librarian’s Guide to DC Comics.” Serial Review Vol. 24. Issue 2. (1998) This article is a brief history of a major comic book company and the superheroes it has created. It is a great resource in that it contains a description of every major superhero title ever published by DC and its imprints. It is also very useful in that it mentions the important writers and artist responsible for the more famous periods and events in DC history. The article begins with a history of comics as an industry as well as the role DC had in that history. It gives a short but well done description of the rise, fall, and resurrection of DC comics as a major player in comics from an economic, social, and literary standpoint. The majority of the article is the breakdown of each specific imprint and series DC offers. It covers the evolution of major characters such as Batman and Superman as well as the reasoning DC had behind introducing imprints such as Vertigo. It even covers the necessity behind DC’s Crisis series and its effect on the continuity of all the comics under the DC banner. There isn’t very much commentary on how these comics have affected people. However, a read through of this one article would bring most anyone all the way from no knowledge of comics up to an understanding of DC superheroes all the way from their beginning until their status in the late 1990s. The level of understanding this article can instill sets a great foundation to frame more complex principles upon. It also has an excellent bibliography. Not only does it cite sources, it gives information for additionally reading pertaining to the individual subjects that it covers. The one real issue I have with the article is that it is now over ten years old, and a lot has happened in the realm of superheroes in the past twelve years. Hughes, Jamie A. “’Who Watches the Watchmen?’: Ideology and ‘Real World’ Superheroes”. Journal of Popular Culture. 1 Aug. 2006:546-557. Print. I must begin this summary with a disclaimer: This article contains an in depth analysis of The Watchmen that spoils many plot elements. I would urge anyone to read the graphic novel or at least watch the movie before ruining the story by reading too far into the article. This article focuses solely on The Watchmen, a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. The basic premise of the novel is in answering the question “What would real life be like if superheroes existed?”. The article gives a point for point summary of how this question is answered. It is useful in that it is a reliable sources that takes out all of the subtle nuances of the comic and lays them bare for anyone to see how they serve as social commentary. The article goes to great lengths in explaining the inner workings of each superhero protagonist and antagonist in The Watchmen as well as the meaningful differences between these internal drives and the internal drives presented in most other comics. It explains how the “real life” superheroes are corporate or government pawns that are reviled by the majority of the American populace rather than selfless paragons of justice and virtue that most superheroes are portrayed as. It defines the unique reasoning each individual has for donning a superhero costume. It explains how these reasons fit into and drive the overall storyline of the comic. It mentions the importance of Moore’s inclusion of real events into his work of fiction. The article isn’t particularly groundbreaking or insightful in it’s analysis, but it’s a quality peer-reviewed synopsis of what widely considered to be one of the crowning achievements of comic books as a relevant medium. Feldman, Keith P. “Black Panther” MELUS 1 Sept. 2007 32.3 255-258. Print. This is a good review of the new Black Panther comic that has been ongoing since 2005. It starts out with a good background exposition of the Black Panther’s origin as a publication and then as a character. It pays special attention to the date of the Black Panther’s creation in relation to major dates in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It gives a quick rundown of the Black Panther’s previous exploits in his 1973 ongoing series. It notes the Cold War overtones of this earlier series. It makes note of the disappearance of the Black Panther character in the Marvel comics universe in relation to the rapid decline of the Black Power movement in 1979. It then jumps into the major focus of the article: the most recent Black Panther series. It first points out that the author is the BET president of entertainment, Reginald Hudlin, and makes note of what political and cultural leanings a man in his position might bring to the comic. He makes note of the comic’s first major story arcs and how they embrace the earlier series’ ideals of a strong black leader with great political power. He mentions that a villainous parody of Condoleeza Rice that heads a contingent of zombie American soldiers is selected as a villain for the Black Panther. It goes on to tell of other such politically charged stories, including a Black Panther led task force geared toward the hurricane Katrina relief effort. It finishes up by making a basic point for point comparison of the comic’s flaws versus its successes, concluding that is an overall admirable work that is perhaps a little too rooted in the political and cultural leanings of its past incarnations. My major complaint with this article is that it is only recent enough to cover the first two years of a series that is now going on five years and running. A veteran comic writer has taken over authorship since the time of this article’s writing, and I feel most of its complaints have been solved. I elected to go with the article because it is a fair review, and it can’t be helped that a more up to date option hasn’t come out. Scott, Cord. “Written in Red, White, and Blue: A Comparison of Comic Book Propaganda from World War II and September 11.” The Journal of Popular Culture 1 April 2007: 325-343. Print. This article is a brief history of the political climates of both the World War II era and the post-September 11th and the comic publications of those periods as well as a comparison of this information. It opens with a explanation of how the comic book industry responded to the September 11th attacks. It uses Spider-Man as an example of the way comics approached the post 9/11 world. It defines this approach as propaganda, and then it clarifies propaganda as any media that is designed to promote a viewpoint. It says in this case the viewpoint is the promotion of the US and the vilification of US enemies. It then switches eras and delves into World War II. It comments on how 1930s and 1940s super villains were thinly veiled stereotypes of Germans and other US enemies. It explains that these stereotypes were a convenient and simple way to introduce kids to complex political and social issues. It goes on to talk about the comic book industry’s general support of the United States entering World War II as well as its continued support when the war was actually joined. It makes special mention of the government boards that many writers joined. From there, it moves on to analyze the comic book heroes of the era themselves, as well as their roles and actions in the comic books’ equivalent of the war. It goes over the distinction between male and female superheroes. After that, it shifts to the modern era once again. It explains how the roles and actions of the heroes shifted to a more support and grieving role. It makes a particular comparison of Captain America’s past and present. Taylor, Aaron. ““He’s Gotta Be Strong, and He’s Gotta Be Fast, And He’s Gotta Be Larger Than Life” : Investigating the Engendered Superhero Body.” The Journal of American Popular Culture 1 April 2007: 344-360. Print. This article is a fairly in-depth look into the physical anatomy of the comic book superhero and the reasoning behind this anatomy. It starts out with a rather philosophical explanation of why body image is important. It goes on to highlight how much more meaningful body image is in a medium where an artist can freely create any anatomy. It becomes more an artistic or even literary statement than a form of self conceptualization. The major thing that the article points out is that superhero bodies, both male and female, are hyper sexualized, at least at first glance. Men have ridiculously chiseled jaws and freakishly muscled chests. Women are never without perfect make-up, and it’s almost certain that someone is making a killing off of custom extra-large super heroine bras. It then points out that the strange powers general strangeness of many superheroes works to counteract this hyper sexuality. It makes comparisons of two different graphic novels, one that draws traditionally oversexed characters, and one that makes more realistic characters. It makes special note of how the sequential art of comic books serves to break up superhero bodies, seldom allowing them to be seen in full view. It also points out that although general body shapes are oversexed, superheroes are never shown to have exceptional, or even existent, genitalia or most anything else that is purely and graphically sexual in nature. It refers to superhero bodies as androgynous multiple times. It also analyzes famous superheroes and explains how their bodies incorporate strange physical traits such as alien and animal parts. This was a good article that I found more personally informative than most. It is well researched, and it delves into many small but interesting things that I hadn’t picked up on my own. Lopes, Paul. “Culture and Stigma: Popular Culture and the Case of Comic Books.” Sociological Forum. 1 Sept. 2006: 387-414. Print. This was an interesting and odd (but vital) article for my project. It doesn’t look into comic books themselves very much at all. Instead, it works at length to define what social stigma is and then apply that information in an analysis of the comic book industry as well as comic book fandom. The first part of this article deals with nothing but the concept of stigma. It pins stigma down as a single element that discredits someone or something. It clarifies that stigma is a purely social construct. It moves on to the middle of the article where it uses this definition in an application to Jazz music. This middle portion serves mainly as an example of how the comic book medium is going to be analyzed. The author seemed somewhat more comfortable with the topic of Jazz, and alluded to earlier work about Jazz and stigma that seemed to be well received. This middle part seemed a little off topic, but it didn’t detract to much from the information that was useful to me. After a lengthy discussion of Jazz and stigma, the article finally moves on and uses the same techniques to analyze comic books in relation to stigma. It starts with a short, but surprisingly thorough rundown of the history of comic books. Between this article and the other historical articles I’ve listed, I don’t honestly think that one could get a better understanding of the history of comics short of being there and reading everything as it was published. It then analyzes comic book producers and the stigma attached to authoring and illustrating comics in the early days. It approaches the concept of comic book producers as first victims of a vicious medium, and then as stereotypical nerds. It then delves into how comic book fandom views itself. Koh, Wilson. “Everything old is good again: Myth and nostalgia in Spider-Man.” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies. 1 Oct. 2009 23.5: 735-747. Print. This was a very interesting article about Spider-Man’s movie origins and why the movie was such a hit. It begins by defining the movie’s box office sales and critics’ reviews. It then begins to break down movie elements such as casting, prop choices, setting, and tint usage and apply them to the movie’s popularity and nostalgic appeal. The article’s major point is that Spider-Man (the film) is geared toward appealing to subconscious nostalgic tendencies within society. The cast could appear in the modern era or the 1960s. Black and white televisions are showcased, but cellphones, computers, and other modern technology is all but absent. New York is portrayed as the squeaky clean idealized city that many imagine it was in the past. Warm and sepia tints are used to make the film appear more cheery and nostalgic. It points out that Spider-Man’s origin is chosen out of 40 possible years of story arcs, even though his origin is a well known thing. It then explains that this origin story is an archetypal tale of the young hero’s adventure into the world that most all people identify with. It mentions that Uncle Ben, a somewhat hokey sage character, is the source of morality for Spider-Man. It then goes on to illustrate that the Green Goblin is a similarly archetypal ghoulish boogeyman of an antagonist. It draws attention to the few scenes that break the “setting out of time” motif and root the film firmly in the present. Overall, this article is a great analysis of just how in tune Hollywood can be with society’s subconscious. I feel a little violated after I read just how easily Sam Raimi was playing with my brain. It points out many useful tidbits about how the movie industry and narrative in general works, and I found it very useful. Dace, Peregrine. “Nietzsche contra Superman: An Examination of the work of Frank Miller.” South African Journal of Philosophy. 1 Feb. 2007: 98-106. Print. This was an interesting article that applied Batman to many of the German philosopher Nietzsche’s concepts and writings. It starts by giving a brief origin of comic books, and quickly segues into the origin of Batman as a character and as a publication. It spends quite a bit of time covering the set of rules the Comics Code Authority outlined for comics in the middle of the century. A major point it establishes is that comic books of that time were meant to perpetuate the status quo. It states that this quality would make comic books unsuitable as a Nietzschean philosophical vessel. It then argues that comic books as a medium free of the Comics Code Authority are not something devoid of inventiveness or Nietzschean usefulness, but that this history and the qualities of the medium make it more difficult for comics to be inventive than other literary mediums. Immediately after it points these things out, it launches into a small biography of Frank Miller up to the point that he began working with DC comics on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This comic is the main specific example the article uses to compare Batman and Nietzschean philosophy. The text points out that Batman’s major motives, the desire to reshape the world in a better image and the constant memory of and struggle against failure, are very much in line with Nietzschean principles. It points out that Batman dwelling on failure would go against such principles normally, but the fact that this failure makes him constantly attempt to be a better man redeems him in the eyes of Nietzsche’s philosophy. This article provides a unique view of Batman as a figure rooted in classical sensibilities. It helped me visualize and write about his character qualities. I would have enjoyed it if the article had reached out a bit further as far as the philosophies and comics it covered, but it’s good for what it is, and the singular approach it takes does make it seem tighter and more informative about the topics it does cover. Question: What special quality or qualities do comic book superheroes and villains have that make(s) that have enabled them to endure for such a long time period?